afl

The Bulldogs pull off the fairiest fairytale that ever fairied.

So, in case you got kidnapped and placed in solitary confinement with no access to the outside world by rebel guerrillas (or even actual gorillas,) I’ll let you know the news about the Western Bulldogs winning this year’s premiership.

The Bulldogs graduate to the big dance by winning the greatest final of the modern era.

First of all, a couple of apologies. The first is to the readers for getting this story up so late. I was on a little sneaky weekend away with no laptop or internet, but thankfully had television access. The second is to our Chief Football Writer Dave Bremner, who got stuck with the most boring final one can remember on Friday night, while I got this cracker.

The AFL Semi-finals are usually a pretty good lesson in why a top 4 finish is so important. Sure, those Doggies broke the mould on Friday when they upset the Hawks, but in fairness, that game was always going to be played at the MCG, regardless of who finished where. As for this game, where Adelaide had to travel to Sydney despite winning last week (and the Swans losing last week), the final position in the 8 proved to be pretty important. Boy oh boy wowee, they’ll be thinking about that West Coast loss in round 23 all through the off-season

Well. Here it is. Everyone’s second favourite team (pffft – yeah right.) versus the team everyone’s just about sick of. First of all – let’s debunk the everyone’s second favourite team thing. First – if you have a second favourite team, you’re doing it wrong. Second – the only reason nobody really hates the Bulldogs is because the last time they won the flag was 1954. That’s 62 years ago. We didn’t even have television until 1956. On top of that, only 81,000 were actually at the G that day. And the majority of those would now be 6 foot under. And the third layer on all of this is that the Dogs beat Melbourne in that Grand Final. Melbourne. They have even less fans than Footscray. So without putting too fine a point on it – there’d be approximately three-fifths of bugger all people who have ever seen the Dogs be successful. It’s hard to hate losers.

In a game that will long be remembered, football’s greatest rivals of the last decade went head-to-head in the weekend’s first qualifying final. The result was determined by the final kick of the night with Hawthorn’s Isaac Smith missing his set shot after the siren, handing Geelong a two-point victory and a preliminary final spot.

The Premiership race has been thrown wide open, with a stunning finals debut from GWS in the first ever ‘Battle of the Bridge’ final. Despite going into the game as firm favourites for both this game and the flag, Sydney just didn’t have the answers to the Giants relentless pressure and precise foot skills.

Thursday night footy from Domain Stadium in Perth, and it was a shock upset, as the unfancied Western Bulldogs gave the West Coast Eagles an absolute flogging and finals “football lesson”. The Bulldogs trademark footspeed, run, carry, and pressure football was evident from early on, as they took risks and moved the ball through the corridor whenever possible.

Eagles 100 def Crows 71
This one was a shock. With Naitanui out injured, I didn’t expect the Eagles to be able to put one over on the Crows – who had a top 2 spot and home final to play for. Adelaide’s much vaunted forward line really didn’t fire a shot, as their midfield couldn’t provide them the service they needed – out worked by the likes of Priddis, Gaff, and Shuey – while journeyman ruckman Jonathan Giles, in just his third game for the season, gave big Sam Jacobs a touch up in the ruck. The Crows will now have to win 4 games in a row to win the flag – slipping to fifth, and an elimination final against the Kangaroos. The Crows have been the form team of the comp – but maybe they’ve had us all fooled. The Crows record against top 8 teams this season is not great. They’ve won 4 and lost 6 – and conceded more points against top 8 teams than all the other finalists except North Melbourne. There will be some who say this is the loss they needed to have before the finals – but I disagree. You would much prefer finishing second to fifth.